Offsite Room Block Options for Consumer Assembly

Book a room at the Eaton Hotel

(10 min walk to the Capital Hilton)

Book a room at the Arc Hotel

(2 metro stops + 5 min walk to Capital Hilton)

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Consumer Assembly Conference Sessions

Why Does Everything Feel Like a Ripoff? 

From scams to dark patterns, consumer manipulation is causing everyday economic pain. Panelists will discuss the various ways consumers are being taken advantage of. Panelists will also discuss how consumer deception shapes the choices consumers make, what consumers pay, and the trust they lose. How can advocates and regulators push back against the “scam economy” that is eroding consumer wellbeing?

Tomato, Tomahto: Understanding Surveillance Pricing and Data-Driven Pricing

People feel tracked, and people feel like they’re being treated unfairly – unfortunately, both are true in the confusing world of data-driven pricing practices. Panelists will describe differences and similarities of the practices referred to as algorithmic pricing, surveillance pricing, personalized pricing, dynamic pricing, surge pricing, and why they all matter. Further, the panel will discuss how it’s affecting the prices for goods and services all throughout the economy while things are as unaffordable as ever. Lastly, the panelists will discuss the myriad of regulatory and legislative approaches that have been taken to address the issue in 2025 and 2026.

Protecting Young Consumers from Predatory Fintech Practices

With the high cost of homeownership and post-secondary education, many young people feel anxious about their ability to achieve financial stability. In this environment, fintech companies actively take advantage of young people’s financial desperation to push risky products on them. Even those who are younger are vulnerable to exploitation, such as minors who purchase virtual currency on gaming platforms. Attend this panel to hear a discussion of the emerging dynamic in which some fintechs exploit audiences at the early stages of their financial journey.

Between Renting and Owning: Cooperative and Shared-Equity Housing Models

As homeownership has grown increasingly out of reach for many families, new housing models are gaining attention that offer alternatives to either traditional renting or homeownership. These approaches – such as limited equity cooperatives, community land trusts, and shared equity homeownership – offer many of the benefits of owning a home, such as stability and resident control, while seeking to keep housing affordable for future generations too.

This session will introduce these models in clear, accessible terms, with a focus on what makes them work for consumers. Panelists will explain how these approaches differ from both renting and homeownership, while also drawing distinctions from emerging for-profit investment products that are often marketed in similar terms, but carry few consumer protections and can be predatory. This panel will conclude by zooming in on key targets for federal and state-level consumer advocacy, including what advocates can do to better support these housing models in their own states.

Prediction Markets – Gambling with Consumer Protection

A panel of experts will discuss the rapidly growing business of prediction markets and the challenge they pose to federal and state regulators. The session will cover topics from preemption of state gaming laws and industry concentration; activities that already fall under the jurisdiction of the FTC, SEC and CFTC; as well as insider trading and ethics rules for senior government officials.

Perspectives on Private Credit

A dialogue with a former regulator and industry representative on the state of the private credit markets. The session will explore how private credit markets grew, their risks and benefits, the current state of the market, and how retirement savers should evaluate potential investment decisions.

Powering Fairness: Protecting Consumers in the Age of Volatile Energy Markets

As energy prices continue to fluctuate, driven by market deregulation, supply chain disruptions, extreme weather events, unprecedented demand from data centers, fossil fuel supply constraints, a slowdown in green energy deployment, and shifting federal policy, consumers across the income spectrum are facing mounting utility burdens with limited recourse. From natural gas shortages and greater capacity bottlenecks to stalled renewable energy projects and the uneven rollout of domestic energy production, supply side pressures are increasingly being passed down to households with little warning and even less protection as the promised cost benefits of the clean energy transition have been purposely delayed and disrupted questions of who bears the burden of energy production and who has shielded from it have become ever more urgent. This panel brings together voices from law, policy, advocacy, and industry to examine the state of consumer protection in the United States energy market and explore what stronger safeguards might look like.

REDLINED: Confronting Persistent Inequalities in Home Insurance Pricing in Communities of Color 

Insurance provides essential protection for American homeowners and is a critical tool for community resilience, especially as climate change threatens more severe weather-related disasters. Coverage is also required of every homeowner with a mortgage. Forthcoming research by the Consumer Federation of America reveals that homeowners are charged significantly higher insurance premiums in America’s Hispanic and Black communities, even after controlling for risk differences. This means that our nation’s home insurance crisis is disproportionately impacting communities of color, and placing further strain on families’ ability to afford housing, to become homeowners, and build wealth. This panel will discuss the implications of the racial premium gap and consider public policy approaches to address the persistent redlining that continues to place barriers to sustainable home ownership in communities across the country.